


Goofy Foot

by Lanerose



Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Surfing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-06-25
Updated: 2007-06-25
Packaged: 2018-06-05 14:58:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6709600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lanerose/pseuds/Lanerose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tezuka and Ryoma run into each other at the beach.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Goofy Foot

"Che, stupid old man," Ryoma said as he watched his father exclaim over the latest attractive woman to walk by their blanket. The would-be monk practically drooled as the blonde in the bikini strode across the sand, still dripping from a recent dip in the ocean. His mother didn’t even look up from the magazine she had been reading when she reached over and whacked the back of her husband’s head.

"Ah, sorry, Rinko, sorry!" Nanjirou exclaimed.

Ryoma stopped paying attention as his father launched into the twelfth or so round of groveling for the day, focusing instead on the way the waves crashed upon the shore. The swells were looking pretty good, though maybe not as high as the forecast had predicted they would –

"Hey boy," said his father’s voice as an arm wrapped itself around Ryoma and pulled him against the old man, "who are you watching out there? Anyone I should know about?"

"Che." Ryoma shrugged him off and got to his feet, pulling his cap down low over his eyes. "I’m going for a walk."

"Have fun, dear," Rinko said as Nanjirou sputtered something about leaving him all on his own and keeping all the cute girls to himself.

The strong wind coming off the ocean kept Hebara cool in spite of the blazing sun glaring down at the sand. Ryoma trudged up the beach to the boardwalk, eyeing the shops along it as he dug his feet in. He walked dropped his flips flops onto the wooden planks and slid them on before turning to follow the path. He passed the first two surf shops, filled to the brim with tourists buying tacky key chains and postcards that didn’t do the view justice. Ryoma ducked into the third one, a shabby looking hole in the wall with strings of beads for a door.

" – that will do. Thank you," a familiar voice said as he entered the store. Ryoma allowed the strings to fall closed and lifted his head. He staggered back a step, making the beads swing wildly behind him.

"Buchou?" Ryoma blinked twice, but the vision before him remained unchanged. Tezuka stood before him, dressed in a pair of board shorts and with money in his hand, probably to rent the longboard on the desk between himself and the store clerk.

"Echizen." Tezuka wasn’t wearing his glasses. Ryoma wondered for a moment how he’d seen him before figuring it had to be contacts, and wondering why Tezuka never wore them for tennis, and realizing that even if Tezuka wasn’t wearing contacts his voice would have given him away.

"Echizen?" The shopkeeper repeated, peering around Tezuka. "Oh, it is you! How are things going, kid? You here to rent a board again? I think the one you usually use is still in today…"

"Ah." Ryoma nodded, and the man headed into the back section of his story. Tezuka, meanwhile, tucked his change back into his wallet and placed the wallet in a labeled bag before dropping the bag on the table and grabbing the longboard off the counter. Ryoma ambled forward, tilting his head up so he could meet Tezuka’s eyes. "I didn’t know you surfed, buchou."

"Hn." Tezuka wouldn’t meet Ryoma’s eyes, instead focusing on the door. "Do you surf often, Echizen?"

"Not so much, really." Ryoma shrugged, grabbing a plastic bag from the box on the table and tossing his hat into it. "You, buchou?"

Tezuka turned to Ryoma, an odd expression in his dark brown eyes. The taller boy opened his mouth to answer –

"Here you go, kid!" The shopkeeper said as he bustled back into the room, placing Echizen’s favorite stick on the table between them. Ryoma handed over the fee, dumped the rest of his stuff into his plastic bag and handed it over to the shopkeeper, who smiled as the two boys turned to go. "Have fun!"

"Thanks," Ryoma called, absently waving a goodbye with his right arm. He and Tezuka exited the shop together and headed back towards the water. Tezuka stayed beside Ryoma as they got close to the impact zone, which was about when Ryoma figured that Tezuka, too, had come alone. He smiled, and wished he could find a way not to lose his lucky cap while in the water so he wouldn’t have to make due without it – but only Tezuka, who didn’t have his glasses, was around, so maybe it didn’t matter.

The water was cool as they headed into it, but warmer than Ryoma had hoped for in late June. He dropped his light board onto the waves, flopping onto it and beginning to paddle out, Tezuka beside him. Coming up from a duck-dive, Ryoma realized the older boy was matching him stroke for stroke. As they reached the line up, he saw with some surprise that Tezuka had the nose of his board pointed out towards the sea rather than back towards the beach. The brown-haired boy turned his board around without too much difficulty, and Ryoma shrugged. He smiled as he caught sight of a large wave headed for them.

"This one's mine, buchou," Ryoma declared as he started paddling with it, not giving the older a chance to protest his rights to the swell coming in behind them. The hazel-eyed boy got his feet under him and slashed the wave. He executed a layback, leaning close enough to the wall of water behind him that the spray was heavy on his back, before carving his way out from beneath the crest and back on top of the wave, a grin lighting up his face.

In the shallows again, Ryoma turned back to the area where he'd left Tezuka, wondering what tricks the older boy would pull out. Tezuka had caught a wave and was still some distance out when Ryoma finally spotted him. He was surfing regular foot, and looked a little unsteady on his feet as he tried to carve the wave.

"Buchou…" The word slipped out under Ryoma's breath as he watched Tezuka get locked in, wincing almost in spite of himself at the mullering. The older boy came up from underwater quickly, grabbing hold of his board and allowing the waves to carry him back out to where Ryoma waited for him.

"Echizen," Tezuka said, letting water fly as he shook his head, "nice moves."

"Thanks, buchou." Ryoma paused, and then, not quite looking at Tezuka, asked, "How long have you been surfing, buchou?"

The older boy's shoulders tensed, and he stared over Ryoma's head as he answered, "A day or two. Why?"

"I… that is…" Ryoma shook his head, and looked resolutely up at Tezuka. "Buchou, would you like me to teach you?"

Tezuka looked down at him sharply, studying him… and smiled. "Ah. Thank you."

"Any time, buchou." Ryoma pulled Tezuka off his board, until the boy was standing beside it in the shallows. "Here. You need to keep the nose always towards the beach, and since you're left-handed like me, you should probably be riding goofy foot, not regular like you were earlier, and…"

~

"Hey, brat, where have you been all day?" Nanjirou asked as Ryoma – having returned his stick to the shop, grabbed his stuff, and parted ways with Tezuka – arrived back at the family blanket. The old man eyed him suspiciously as his mother finished packing up. "Meet anyone interesting?"

Ryoma grabbed the basket Rinko offered him and stopped for a moment, meeting his father's eyes.

"You could say that," he said as he turned on his heels and walked away, smiling.  


**Author's Note:**

> Originally written as part of the Tenifriends challenge on LJ for kirayukari. All I know about surfing is what I've read on the internet.


End file.
